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Emma, ethics, Fiction, Frigate to Utopia, Jane Austen's Philosophy of the Virtues, Lit-Lass, literature, Mansfield Park, morality, Novel Readings, Pride and Prejudice, Rohan Maitzen, Sarah Emsley, Sense and Sensibility, virtue
Lit-Lass is reading my book Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues and writing about it at Frigate to Utopia. She likes it so much she quotes Bronson Alcott saying of The Pilgrim’s Progress that “This is one of the few books that showed me to myself,” and says she feels the same about my book. What an honour to be in such company!
Thanks to Rohan Maitzen of Novel Readings for calling my attention to this series of posts (and, of course, for being a fantastic advisor way back when I was writing the Ph.D. dissertation that eventually turned into this book…).
Here’s a list of what’s appeared so far in the series:
Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues (Introduction and Chapter 1)
Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues (2): Propriety’s Claims on Prudence
Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues (3): Sense and Sensibility
“Pride and Prejudice and the Beauty of Justice”
“Fanny Price and the Contemplative Life”
“Learning the Art of Charity in Emma”
Edited August 11, 2013 to add the last two:
Sarah Emsley 
What an honour it is to have my posts mentioned on your blog, Dr Emsley! I’m currently between laptops and have been typing the posts up at the library with minimal editing — hence the delay in posting. Maybe that’s been a good thing though, giving me much time to make the book part of my contemplative life. 😉
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Please call me Sarah! And thank you for writing such detailed, thoughtful posts about my chapters and the novels. It’s been a while since I read the book myself — so it’s been fun to revisit it through your posts. I’m so pleased you’ve enjoyed reading it.
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Aw, thanks. I’m a Sarah myself, so it’s nice to have another Canadian Janeite named Sarah to look up to! 😉
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My turn to say, aw, thanks!
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I followed your hyperlink to the comment on the philosophy of virtues. The summary there made interesting points. But ‘Lady Susan’ does not fit well into this scheme. It was written in the spirit of Fielding, with the worldly world-view of the late 18th century, when Jane Austen was young. It has later echos in JA’s work, in Mrs. Dashwood and in Mary Crawford.
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Thanks for visiting my blog and Frigate to Utopia. I definitely agree with you that there are echoes of Lady Susan’s character in Mary Crawford and Fanny Dashwood. In what ways do you think the novella doesn’t fit with Austen’s philosophy of the virtues in the later novels? I think her exploration of Lady Susan’s unethical behaviour is an early example of her interest in ethics.
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Yes, she was already interested in ethics. But in ‘Lady Susan’ and in her ‘History of England’ she is young, wide-eyed, gleeful about becoming privy to the secrets of how the world works, emphasizing insightful observing more than judging.
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The tone of Lady Susan and the History of England is quite different from the later novels, but I don’t think Austen is just observing in either case. As you say, she’s learning about how the world works, and part of that process involves asking that central question about how to live one’s life.
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Sarah,
You have set off a whole wide world of discussion about virtue in JA. Good for you. And good for us. Must be very gratifying too to see the scope and depth of this discussion.
Now Sheila and I aer back in Hlfx, I look forward to seeing you and your family again soon, Hugh
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Thanks very much, Hugh, and welcome home to Halifax. It was great to see Sheila yesterday and I’ll look forward to seeing you again soon, too.
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